Sassi Photography | Sara Pearcy | Brisbane Photographer » Blog

It’s been a busy three months since I last posted on this blog.  I don’t think I’ve ever left it for so long!

I have a handful of photography sessions I can share with you soon, but most of the past three months has been spent getting healthy and fit.  I still have a fair way to go to get to my goal.  The more I achieve, the more confident I feel about making it to the end and staying there.

So far I have lost 23kg and have another 17kg to go.  This image is now a month old and I have trimmed a little more since then.

I have had so many questions from people asking me what I am doing and how I’m doing it.  Here’s a quick breakdown:

I restrict my intake to 1200 calories.  I am meticulous about keeping balanced and making sure I get all the nutrients required.  I drink in excess of 2 litres of water a day.  Other drinks (ie. coffee) are on top of this.  I usually end up drinking between 2.5 and 4 litres daily.

I burn a minimum of 600 calories a day during my exercise program.  I wear a heart rate monitor to keep tabs.  I do any exercise I can fit in, but I most love my cross trainer, resistance/weight training and intervals.

I have had so many people ask me for advice about cross trainers.  It’s been quite astounding actually.  I wish I got a commission for all the spruiking I’ve ended up doing!!

So, all in all, life is great!  I’m feeling great and I’m heading into the next few months of training with new goals and lots of support.  Thanks for all the comments, messages, calls and texts I’ve received over the past three months!

xx S.

 

Here’s a brutally honest post about me, Sara.

For those who know me well, you’d know I don’t talk about myself overly.  When I meet people, I’m quiet and a little shy.  I find it hard to talk.  I’m not a snob, as I’ve been accused of being (“When I first met you, I thought you were a real snob!”) – I have to make myself talk.  I’m better in a room full of strangers as a teacher (teaching Photography and Photoshop), rather than speaking one-on-one with my peers.  I am very willing to help people and talk about them – lots of people tell me their problems and secrets – as long as the subject doesn’t come back to me.  I can’t see why anyone would want to know about me, in all honesty.

‘Friends’ who know me online from various forums over the years, many published articles in magazines, my blogs, Facebook and Twitter see the profile photos I post and possibly see me as relatively fit and healthy – I don’t know.  That’s the magic of being a professional photographer and knowing how to pose yourself and others to take a flattering photograph.  When they meet me in the world, they realise differently.  I often see it in their face.  Friends who know me in real life know that I’m am, in fact, overweight.  Obese, actually.

 [Smoke and mirrors - my avatars/profile pics.]

I’m actually very smart.  Only a handful of people know this, but Mensa level, apparently.  You’d never know looking at all the dumb decisions I’ve made about my health in the past twenty years.  Those decisions have brought me here.  I am unfit, suffer asthma, have crook knees and a bad back.  Why do I leave myself in this state?  Really, why?  Can I claim temporary insanity for a period of twenty years?  Can I?  Please?

So what’s the change?

I’m finally in the right head-space!  I’ve lived twenty years of Pumba’s “Hakuna Matata – why worry?”.  I’m now at Rafiki’s, “It is time.”  {The Lion King ref.}

You know the bit that really gets me is the excuses.  On shows like The Biggest Loser you hear the trainers say, “Stop making excuses!”  I have no excuses.  I mean, I never really used any.  I certainly have a stack to pick from: 5 kids aged 10 and under, full time mum and housekeeper, running my two photography businesses, doing the accounting for my work, my husband’s busy office plus the home finances – all on the side, busy/no time, quicker to pick up junk food, etc…  I never really saw any of these as an excuse for not losing weight.

I’m happy how I am and have been able to continue in my life without much issue from my weight.  I had family who would tell me what I had to do and that I had to lose weight (…and we all know how many women react to being told what to do!), but I was happy enough cruising along.  Sure, I wouldn’t mind being able to go into any trendy clothing store and picking something cute off the rack, but there are so many overweight people out there that finding clothes to fit was never too hard.

I know an amazing friend who had an enormous health scare and that boosted her into an astounding weight-loss journey.  Many people followed her by example and lost weight too.  I probably should have taken the example, but chose not to.

So what am I doing?

Right now I’m hitting it hard.  I am finally in the right place to do this for me!  I had been on an eating and exercise program for two weeks when I heard about Shannan Ponton’s 8 Week Summer Challenge and I jumped at the chance to join up!  I am doing it with six other photographers and we support each other daily online – gotta love Facebook!  The Biggest Loser Club team support online and Shannan Ponton himself is making time to support SO many people doing the Challenge.  I hope he realises how every personal comment he makes to each participant is a huge boost.

By the way, it is not a ‘diet’ – that’s such an overused word – it’s a simple lifestyle change.  Simple.

I am in Week 1 of the Summer Challenge, but Week 2 of C25K – Couch to 5Km – a running program, to get you off the couch and fit enough to run 5kms in nine weeks.  I am LOVING how open my lungs are feeling after such a short time.  My asthma has improved and I’ve lost a dress size.

Why am I telling you this?

I’m making myself accountable.  Something I was never willing to do before, because I didn’t care enough.  Carrying extra weight hasn’t damaged my confidence as a person, mother, photographer or friend.  This isn’t the first time I have changed my diet to lose weight however – don’t get me wrong.  I’ve done it six times before.  Each time I’ve had to stop due to pregnancy…  can you see the dilemma I’ve had about going on diets?  Tee hee.

This time I am going to succeed.  I know I am because I actually want to do this.  I am loving the exercise (believe it or not, I used to be a gym junkie in my teens).  I’m not missing the rubbish food.  This week’s plan allows for a treat – I can’t even see myself having it.  I don’t want anything I’m not already eating.

Most importantly, I want that feeling back.  When I was a teen, I used to have strangers come up to me in cafes and bus stops to give me notes written on napkins, giving me their phone numbers.  I never believed it was actually because I was attractive.  I never once called the numbers.  I thought I was fat and plain – ha!  I figured I was already fat, so what’s another couple of kilos.  When I say I want that feeling back, not the strangers giving me notes – that would be creepy at my age, plus I don’t think my husband would like it much – but the possibility.  The feeling that I might be lean and attractive and can wear what I’d like.  That’s all.  Too easy.  :)

Here’s the worst/best/funniest bit.  I am taking full-body ‘mug-shots’ for the entirety of the Challenge.  Front and side, two sets – clothed plus scantily-dressed.  Who knows if they’ll ever be published on here, but I’ll certainly think about it.  When I get to a size 14 or 12, the photos will probably be good for a laugh!

So, that’s where I am at.  Thank you for reading this far and wish me luck!  I don’t need it, of course – it’s about hard work, not luck.

(Now we’ll just see how long it will take me to have the courage to publish this post!)
xx S.